After cutting his teeth in the Eredivisie as a 20-year-old with Feyenoord, Brett Emerton believes the competition would have been a perfect fit for Daniel Arzani.
The Australian teenager was linked with moves to PSV and PEC Zwolle, but ultimately chose Manchester City and a two-year loan spell with Celtic.
While he has recently scored for the Hoops academy side, Arzani was left out of Celtic's Europa League squad and Emerton admits the Eredivisie may have presented a better opportunity for the attacker.
"I think for his development it would’ve been a better move if I’m honest," Emerton told Goal.
"But that’s not to say he can’t go to Celtic, spend one or two seasons performing well and get a big move from there.
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"I’m hopeful he’ll do well. I want our national team to do well and for that we need our players in the biggest leagues week in, week out. That should be his ambition."
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Having himself moved to Feyenoord in 2000, Emerton found himself on the cusp of playing in the UEFA Cup final in 2002 only to be denied the chance to play through a questionable suspension.
Emerton was handed a second yellow card late in the semi-final against Inter Milan after moving the ball while taking a corner and ruled to have been time wasting despite the fact the assistant referee had told him to move the ball.
Despite that heartache, Emerton's time in the Netherlands was successful with a dream move to Blackburn materialising in 2003.
The former Socceroos midfielder is excited to see a number of Australians currently playing in the Eredivisie and hopeful they can follow a similar path to himself.
"I went to Feyenoord and my ideal goal was to end up playing in the Premier League," he said.
"I wasn’t able to go straight there due to work permit reasons so I used Holland as a stepping stone for my career and think it worked out perfectly well.
"I'm excited to see Trent (Sainsbury) and (Aziz) Behich do well at PSV, it’s a club I know well and I think it’s going to be great for their development.
"Playing in the Champions League they’re in the shop window and I hope they can perform well and take their careers to the next level."
